In Search of a New Colony
In 1770, Captain James Cook landed on the eastern coast of Australia and claimed it for Britain, naming it New South Wales. The British did not try to colonize this new land for a few years. Previously, one of the purposes of the American colonies was to serve as a place to send British convicts because the jails in Britain were overcrowded. However, when America revolted in the 1770s and became independent, Britain no longer had anywhere to send its convicts. In 1778, Britain sent Captain Arthur Phillip to lead an expedition of eleven ships containing convicts to New South Wales to establish a prison colony there, and this would serve as the place where Britain would send about 50,000 more convicts over the next six decades.